1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery compartment for selectively accommodating an integrated battery unit integratedly including a plurality of batteries in a package and a plurality of cylindrical batteries such as AAA type batteries, and more particularly to a battery compartment employed in varied electronic devices such as a photographic camera, an exchangeable flash device, a radio, a tape recorder and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
This type of battery compartment for selectively accommodating the integrated battery unit and the plurality of cylindrical batteries is disclosed, for example, in a U.S. patent application published under U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,439. This prior-art compartment is constructed on the assumption that the integrated battery unit and the plurality of cylindrical batteries as a whole have substantially the same volume and periphery and such that when the cylindrical batteries are mounted therein a partition member for separating the cylindrical batteries is projected into the battery compartment.
According to the above-described construction, however, when an overall periphery of the cylindrical batteries is smaller, especially in a cross section thereof, than a periphery of the integrated battery unit, there occur such inconveniences that the cylindrical batteries unnecessarily move or lean inside the compartment thereby to cause an insufficient or erroneous electrical contact and that a first inserted battery leans to obstruct an insertion of a second battery. Further, it is to be noted that the cylindrical batteries such as the AAA type batteries often have relatively large peripheral size tolerance which also often causes the above unnecessary movement and leaning of the batteries.